


I Don't Wanna Say I Told You So

by CactusJuice7



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Angst, Gen, Introspection, It's not SUPER angsty, Reminiscing, The Author recommends an immediate reread after finishing to fully realise the [redacted], more like Angst: Lite, or is it Reflection?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 08:59:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16762030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CactusJuice7/pseuds/CactusJuice7
Summary: He should've seen it coming. Truthfully, a part of him had. But after spending so long telling himself that things between them were going to be alright, that part of him had been all but forgotten.





	I Don't Wanna Say I Told You So

**Author's Note:**

> The events surrounding the Shield for the last month or so have weighed on me quite heavily, so I wrote this to help process my feelings. Maybe it'll help you too.

He should've seen it coming. Truthfully, a part of him had. But after spending so long telling himself that things between them were going to be alright, that part of him had been all but forgotten.

He thought back to the very beginning. Back to FCW, where it all began. Nothing and no one could’ve prepared him for the whirlwind that was Dean Ambrose. Yet the very minute the pair locked up in their first match, he knew. Everyone knew. It was plain to see. The two of them, together? It was something special, something unique.

He wonders if anyone knew back then that ten years later, the two of them would still be doing the same old dance. They never really stopped. Sure, when they were teaming together it was just dialled down to bickering and the occasional roughhouse. But Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins on the same page at the same time? It just didn’t happen. Somehow,  _ somehow, _ they managed to make it work well enough that the two were nigh invincible when they were working together. It was amazing what they were able to achieve when they turned their focus to a common enemy, rather than on each other. He wondered if one day they’d learn to put their focus on others and _ keep it there. _

He thought back to the events of June 2nd, 2014. He didn’t like to do so very often; the past was the past and he refused to let it consume him. But now with Dean turning heel… well, people couldn’t talk about the most recent Shield betrayal without bringing up the original. For months after that day, he couldn’t close his eyes without seeing Dean’s face behind his eyelids. He couldn’t forget the shock, the hurt, the realization and the fury all combining to form one gloriously painful expression after that first swing. He couldn’t sleep without the dull thud of steel connecting with flesh echoing in his ears.

He wonders if anyone knew back then that one day the tables would turn. Maybe some did. Before the initial betrayal, everyone thought it was going to be Dean that destroyed the Shield. Famously, even Dean thought that Dean would be the one to do it. But it seemed that everyone forgot about that after the break up. He certainly did. Maybe Dean didn’t? Maybe, for anyone that truly knew Dean, his turn wasn’t unexpected. Maybe he didn’t know his brother as well as he thought he did. That thought settled uncomfortably in the back of his mind.

He thought back to their first impromptu reunion at Survivor Series. At that point he didn’t know if he wanted to be back with his brothers for good, it just… seemed like the right thing to do at the time. After all, they were all about justice, weren’t they? He wasn’t going to lie and say that it felt good to have the Shield back, though. That initial reunion didn’t feel good. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but it was very tense. It was nothing like what it used to be. Maybe they were able to put on brave faces for the crowd, but the three of them barely said a word to each other as they headed back to the locker room. He felt that out of the three of them that he had the least to say. What could he do, except listen to the other two go off on their own tangents and have their own silent conversations like they always had?

He wonders if there was anyone left at that point that would deny a Shield reunion. It was coming, and everyone saw it. Everyone was hungry for it. And he couldn’t deny the fact that maybe, just maybe, he was looking forward to it as well. Things had settled down a lot more now between the three of them, and that ugly tension that had weighed down his shoulders at Survivor Series had all but disappeared. Dean screwing up his arm only delayed the inevitable. The band was getting back together, and they were going to be unstoppable.

Statistically, a band is more likely to break up than “make it”. 

And so, here they were. The Shield, freshly shattered once again. And here he was, once again, lying wide awake in the middle of the night, thinking about everything he’d done that could’ve led to this outcome. Wondering if there was anything he could’ve changed or done to stop it. 

His phone suddenly blaring to life broke the silence and his train of thought. He glanced at the caller ID.

_ Seth Rollins. _

Roman sighed deeply, then muted the phone to let the call ring out. Let him think that he was in the shower or that he'd already fallen asleep. He knew what Seth wanted, and he wasn’t going to give it to him. He knew, better than most, what happened to those who got between Dean and Seth. And this time, he didn’t think he could survive it.

No. This time, he wasn’t getting involved. This time, he was staying out of it. This time, he was going to let his brothers work it out themselves.

And they would. Eventually. 

They always did.


End file.
